Angriff

(Updated on 11/05/02)

Author

File Description

ENOTH

Posted on 11/02/02 @ 12:00 AM

File Details

Version:

The Conquerors

ANGRIFF ai by ENOTH Design Team, enoth@rambler.ru
ANGRIFF is a system of conditionally loaded and randomly loaded *.per files, which allows it to work faster than those AI which contain all the rules in one file. It supports all civilizations but the AZTEC and MAYAN (not because we do not like them: more investigation is required to make them behave like true Aztecs and Mayans in the game). All the CIVs are made to look more or less like their historical prototypes. There are several randomly loaded files for each of the civilizations, which means that each time they may choose different tactics, relying either on ranged units, on cavalry or on infantry, starting to attack their adversaries earlier or later in the game, etc. ANGRIFF is quite aggressive, preferring to attack in full force but occasionally sending small bands of soldiers to disturb the enemy. ANGRIFF is made mostly for random map games but can be used also in scenarios when some aggressive and active personality is required. It includes a system of taunts (from 50 to 70 and 31 - "Attack now!") which work only in scenarios, as well as a diplomacy system (if you quarrel with your computer ally changing diplomatic stance from ally to neutral or enemy, he does the same - for scenarios only).
ANGRIFF is a non-cheating AI with a well-balanced economy, able to re-task villagers collecting food, wood, gold or stone, depending upon what commodity is required at the given moment. It can also trade in commodities, if there is not enough gold or stone at hand.
Two basic systems of research are randomly loaded for each CIV, one rushing for the next age, another taking more care about upgrading available troops at each stage of development. There are also apecific research files for each CIV.
ANGRIFF has been tested with all civilizations on all kinds of maps with pop-cap from 75 to 200. For some unknown reason it works slightly slower on certain water maps, despite of the number of war-boats or transport ships it builds.

To install: unzip ANGRIFF.zip into the AI folder. All the *.per files should remain in their ANGRIFF folder within the AI folder but for the ANGRIFF.per and ANGRIFF.ai, which go to the main AI folder.
Please send comments, if there are any, to enoth@rambler.ru
November 2002 A.D.
ENOTH Design Team

My initial reaction when I downloaded Angriff was one of expectation -- with all those files it must be good! I was really anticipating playing against a strong AI for a change. After playing several games against Angriff, my conclusion is that it is NOT a strong AI. In a word, Angriff is SLOW. It builds slowly, advances slowly, and attacks slowly. Don't get all worked up if it says that its flushing -- I found that Angriff does nothing of the sort. Even on hardest, its mid-castle before you see a semblance of an attack -- a few swordsman and knights, and maybe a battering ram if your lucky. But I'm always one to give AIs a fair go. I played three games against Angriff, on hard difficulty and low resources. I'm not exactly the best player in the world (understatement of the century) but I could tell that Angriff was dead in the water right from the word "go". The first two times I rolled Angriff over with flushes, opposition was practically nil. OK, fair enough. Maybe this AI was not designed for feudal fighting, I told myself. I played against it again on Black Forest, with a "no attacking until imperial" sort of policy. I fended off the few puny attacks Angriff sent my way, and then took the offensive. Angriff put up no resistance, and I won with some War Elephants and Trebuchets. Well, Angriff didn't fair too well against me. Next I pitted it against some other custom made AIs: Zycat, The Duke, Saiyan, Alliance-Thunda Zenith, and some others. The battle (if you could call it such) was somewhat lopsided. Angriff made some heroic efforts to protect itself, but was creamed every time. Even the standard AI was able to win against it. It might seem that this review is giving it an unfair rap, so let me hastily cover my tracks. Angriff is not the best AI I have ever seen, but its not total crap. For some, this AI would be useful -- but I'd be very surprised if those people were very experienced. A newbie may find Angriff handy, not overly hard but not overly easy, but as for you experts, look elsewhere. Considering the number of files that come with the download, I had expected something a bit better. 3.5